Delta woman worries advance voting woes hint at larger issues

TSAWWASSEN (NEWS 1130) — A long wait, people shouting, others walking away discouraged. A Delta woman’s experience at an advance poll has her worried about what’s in store for voters in the 2021 election.

Pamela McColl went to Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall Friday around 2:30 p.m. to cast her ballot. She says it took nearly two hours for her to get it done.

“I actually did think of leaving two or three times. I actually had some trouble standing for an hour and a half too. A lot of people there were seniors, a lot of people were struggling to stand that long,” she says.

“I heard people shouting, I had people screaming, ‘This isn’t Canada,’ people were leaving. It was just a really unfortunate situation.

“If this is what happens at 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon — what happens after rush hour when everybody gets off work and tries to go there? What about Election Day? If these people aren’t prepared, we could have a lot of people turned away or people who just out of frustration aren’t going to vote. I think that’s disenfranchising people.”

A federal election in a pandemic comes with COVID-19 protocols, like mandatory masks, and plexiglass barriers. But McColl says there were also fewer workers checking electors of the list.

“When we complained, the officials there sort of shrugged their shoulders and said it’s COVID,” McColl says.

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When it comes to COVID-19, McColl says people frustrated with the wait abandoned all precautions.

“There was no social distancing, there were people all crammed in because everyone was so anxious. Everybody was standing on top of one another,” she says.

“Hopefully, they can fix this because I can just imagine how bad it could get honestly.”

Long waits at several locations in B.C.

Elections Canda, on its website, says, “physical distancing and other health and safety measures at polling locations for both electors and election workers may mean that the voting process will take longer.”

Spokesperson Andrea Marantz confirms there were lengthy waits at some polling places.

“I absolutely understand the frustration of waiting in long lines. It is frustrating, it is annoying, and I do apologize,” she says.

“They happened in different places around the province. They tended to be in pockets of time, that were fairly short. There’s a big long lineup for a couple of hours, and then there’s nobody. That was the experience at several locations. It doesn’t make it any easier for the people who were in those hour-long waits.”

As for the cause, lower numbers of staff, the fact that it was the first day, and COVID-19 protocols all contributed.

“There have steps taken to address some of that,” she notes.

“I guess I just encourage people to try and have some patience and remember that the people that are trying to help you out are your neighbours, they do live in your home district, and they’re trying to help you have the ability to vote.

Marantz says Elections Canada needs to hire around 230,000 people to work at the polls — between advance and day-of voting.

With files from Ria Renouf